Session nets mixed reaction

Compromise dominates 2000 General Assembly

Posted: Monday, March 27, 2000

By Dave WilliamsStaff Writer

ATLANTA -- The 2000 General Assembly session that ended last week was typical in at least one respect: few got everything they wanted other than Gov. Roy Barnes who saw the majority Democrats pass all 10 of his bills.

Even the governor was forced to compromise on his massive education-reform legislation, while advocates for the environment, rural hospitals and the mentally retarded achieved mixed results.

Representatives of minority groups and animal-rights activists made major strides, but they, too, had to settle for less than complete victory.

''It was a good news-bad news session,'' said Jimmy Lewis, CEO for HomeTown Health Care LLC, which represents rural hospitals.

While Barnes' determination to reduce class sizes, hire more school counselors and nurses and hold schools and teachers more accountable drew praise from all quarters, educator groups bemoaned the loss of job protection for new teachers in the reform bill.

But Barnes proved willing to make changes during the legislative process. He agreed to phase in requirements for smaller class sizes and give teachers facing dismissal the right to a written reason.

''We were pleased by many of the things that went on in the (legislative) conference committee,'' said Barbara Christmas, executive director of the Professional Association of Georgia Educators. ''It was a good compromise.''

While education dominated the session, lawmakers dealt with a number of other issues with less fanfare.

The environmental component of Barnes' agenda, a new grant program for open-space preservation, quietly sailed through the General Assembly. Its way was eased by the governor's decision to make it an incentive program rather than a mandate, an offer of $30 million to the 40 eligible counties willing to protect 20 percent of their undeveloped land.

Environmentalists roundly praised the green-space bill but were horrified at legislation that would give lawmakers the power to veto water-quality regulations put forth by the state Environmental Protection Division.

Supporters said the measure was prompted by overly restrictive regulations the Georgia Board of Natural Resources imposed last year on hog farms. But it's really aimed at a crackdown on poultry being readied by the EPD, said Neill Herring, a lobbyist for the Georgia chapter of the Sierra Club.

''The poultry industry was making a preemptive strike at rules that haven't even been proposed yet,'' he said.

The mixed reception environmental advocates gave to this year's session was echoed by representatives of financially struggling rural hospitals, several of which have gone out of business or are on life support.

They were cheered by an infusion of $1 million to the state's 44 ''critical-access'' hospitals, nearly $2.5 million including federal matching funds.

But for the second year in a row, legislative budget writers axed $3 million intended to fund a grant program dedicated to rural hospitals. That money went instead to restore a cut in state aid to county health departments that the governor had recommended.

''Those cuts looked like they would have hit the most populated, wealthiest counties, which could have taken the cuts,'' said Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor, who pushed the bill authorizing the grant program through the General Assembly last year. ''(But) I ran into a pretty serious contention on the part of House members that this program would be a bottomless pit for money.''

A similar tug of war developed during the budget review over a small portion of the first installment of Georgia's share of the national tobacco settlement.

Anti-smoking advocates resorted in vain to news conferences and opinion polls when lawmakers reduced funding for smoking cessation and prevention programs by $5 million and used that money instead to reduce the waiting list for home- and community-based services for the mentally retarded.

They were particularly riled that the largest piece of the tobacco-settlement money -- $62 million -- is going toward rural economic development, including aid to farmers hurt by a decline in demand for tobacco products.

''This was seen as just a windfall for the state,'' said Linda Lee, chairwoman of the Coalition for a Healthy and Responsible Georgia. ''That was not the intent of the attorney general when he filed the (tobacco) lawsuit.''

Beth Tumlin, chairwoman of the Unlock the Waiting Lists campaign, was thrilled to get the increase, which will help cut by more than 300 the number of mentally retarded Georgians awaiting home- and community-based services. But she's wary that the money is coming from the tobacco settlement, which is only good for 25 years.

''What happens if one of these tobacco companies goes out of business?'' she wondered. ''How will the state continue to offer these services?''

While anti-tobacco forces and advocates for the mentally retarded are vowing to return to the Capitol next year to fight for more money for their causes, other activists are celebrating major breakthroughs.

The General Assembly passed a hate-crimes bill and legislation toughening penalties for animal cruelty, measures that would have been deemed inconceivable in Georgia just a few years ago.

Still, both measures had to be watered down to get them past conservative lawmakers.

The House removed language from the hate-crimes bill allowing juries to increase prison sentences for defendants whose crimes were motivated by their victim's race, religion, national origin, gender or sexual orientation. It was reworded simply to apply to crimes arising from bias or prejudice.

House members also forced a narrowing of the circumstances under which crimes involving animal cruelty could be upgraded to a felony.

While neither bill was a total victory for its supporters, they're satisfied that progress is being made.

''In light of where the Georgia legislature had been, I think they made enormous strides in passing hate crimes legislation,'' said Shelly Rose, associate regional director for the Anti-Defamation League. ''It was a big step.''

Rose said she hopes lawmakers will strengthen the bill in the future.

Education-reform advocates also are looking to the future to show whether the steps the General Assembly took this year will be window dressing or revolutionary change.

''We've had more structural change than instructional,'' said Franklin Shumate of Watkinsville, a former deputy state school superintendent. ''You're going to have better education when you have stronger instructional efforts. I think school people are still waiting to see where we're headed with instruction.''